


Fighting Words

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 11:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13635117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: They’d only been together again for a couple hours and yet the Doctor and Rose already had their first fight.





	Fighting Words

**Author's Note:**

> This is for doctorroseprompts's Tentoosday event.

“How do you not understand this, Rose?” the Doctor shouted, raking his fingers through his hair. “You were there! You saw it! My regeneration energy went into the hand. The biological metacrisis was induced when Donna touched the hand. It’s not that difficult to understand. I don’t get why you’re being so stupid.”

As soon as the words left his lips, the Doctor wished he could take them all back. Rose’s breath hitched and a tear finally dripped down her cheek. She impatiently brushed it away, and glared up at him, anger warring with the hurt.

“You’re an arsehole,” she whispered. “Guess that translated through to the metacrisis as well.”

“Rose, I didn’t mean it,” he pleaded quietly, his stomach churning. They’d been together again for all of two hours, and he’d already made her cry. “Please.”

“Anger makes the filter go away,” Rose murmured. “You meant everything you just said.”

“No, Rose, please, you don’t understand…”

“Go ahead and tell me something else I don’t understand,” Rose snapped. “I’d forgotten how much you loved to tell me what a stupid ape I am.” She shook her head and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes for a moment, before she turned away from him and strode to the door.

The Doctor’s heart sank. “No, wait, don’t go.”

“Leave me alone,” she warned. “Don’t follow me.” When she saw his outstretched hand, she flinched away. “And don’t touch me.”

A cold, hollow feeling took up residence in his stomach, and he let his arm limply drop to his side. He’d just found her again; he didn’t want to be without her a minute longer. But he’d just hurt her, something he’d promised he’d never do.

He hated himself.

The door clicked shut behind Rose, and the sound echoed in his ears. It had all been going so well, too. They’d gotten a taxi to a little sea side inn a few miles from where they’d been dropped off, and he and Rose had tucked themselves in the back seat with their arms around each other. He’d thought his life couldn’t get more perfect. But then they made it to their room—he and Rose were sharing—and she’d stepped up to him and kissed him.

And what a kiss it had been. It was even more intense than their shared kiss on the beach. It involved lips and tongues and teeth, and soon their hands had gone wandering and their bodies ground against each other just so, igniting a mutual arousal that led to a hard and fast shag in bed. He’d feared he would embarrass himself by coming too fast—and he did, but Rose did too, and they laughed into each other’s skin as they caught their breath and basked in the love and pleasure they were feeling.

She’d whispered that she loved him into his ear, and the words filled him with such indescribable joy that he needed to share that feeling with Rose, and so he’d whispered the words back to her.

Cuddling together in the afterglow, with her spooned up tightly against him, the Doctor thought that the worst was behind him, and he could finally start again with the love of his lives.

Then they got to talking.

The Doctor pressed his fingertips into his eyes as he remembered trying to explain to Rose what had happened, and he’d thought she’d been taking it well. She seemed to accept his explanation of a biological metacrisis, and he was so relieved that she didn’t think he was some sort of copy of the real Doctor.

Then he’d asked how she managed to travel through the Void to come back. She’d furrowed her brows and said, “I already told you.”

Things got a little fuzzy, then, when her face fell and she muttered something about the other Doctor, but the next thing he knew, he was raging at her for not understanding exactly when their—his and the Time Lord Doctor’s—memories split.

He cursed himself in all the languages that he knew. There was no reason for him to have gotten so upset at Rose. It wasn’t every day that one’s lover managed to split themselves into two people. Why hadn’t he just been patient, and explained to her again the finer details of what a metacrisis was? Why had he gotten so angry with her for not understanding such an alien concept?

He knew the answer, of course. He was scared. Plain and simple. He was terrified that he would say the wrong thing and that Rose would stop believing he was the real Doctor. He was so scared that she wouldn’t want him if she thought he wasn’t her Doctor.

And so of course, he’d lashed out.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Doctor._

He desperately wanted to go after Rose and beg her forgiveness. But she’d been so angry, too. He’d known exactly what to say to make her as upset as he was, but it was the lowest blow he could’ve dealt, and now Rose had walked away from him. He had no idea if or when she would come back, and the fear of the unknown threatened to drive him mad.

But barely thirty minutes later, the Doctor heard the electronic beep of the door unlocking, and he jumped to his feet with his heart in his throat. Rose had come back. It was sooner than he expected. What would she say? Was she going to tell him to go to hell, and leave him here in Norway?

Before he saw her, the scent of grease and cheese and bread wafted to his nose. His stomach gurgled and he was finally aware of how hungry he was as Rose stepped into the room carrying a big box of pizza and a box of beer.

“Can I help you with something,” he asked, stepping up to her.

She glanced over at him, and the weariness on her face twisted the Doctor’s heart.

“Can you get the door?” she asked, stepping past him.

She set the food down on the floor at the foot of the bed as the Doctor closed the door and latched the deadbolt.

“What’s all this?” he asked carefully, rocking on his heels, still standing by the door as he watched her sit down on the floor next to the pizza.

“Food,” she said bluntly. “I haven’t eaten in nearly twenty-four hours. I’m tired and I’m hungry, and I know that’s part of why we snapped at each other. So unless you have anything else you want to shout at me for, sit down at have a bite to eat.”

The Doctor mutely stepped forward as Rose opened the lid and took the biggest slice of pizza and began devouring it.

“Rose, I’m so sorry…”

“Food first,” she said through a full mouth. “Then we can talk.”

He nodded dumbly, and grabbed a piece of pizza for himself. After the first bite, his body reminded him how famished he was, and for the next ten minutes, they gorged themselves on the pizza Rose had brought.

“Want one?” she asked, cracking open a beer and taking a long pull.

He nodded, and she cracked one open for him. He sipped it. It wasn’t the best beer he’d ever had, but it was good enough and something he knew he probably wouldn’t get drunk on immediately.

“Can I talk now?” he asked quietly as he watched Rose pick at the cheese on her fourth slice. When she nodded, he said, “I am so sorry, Rose. So sorry. When our TARDIS is grown, I’m gonna come back and smack myself for everything I said.”

The smile that crossed Rose’s lips made him feel hopeful he hadn’t completely mucked everything up.

“I think that’ll cause a paradox, though,” she teased. “I distinctly remember only one arrogant twat bein’ in the room, and if you go back and change it and yell at yourself, I probably won’t leave the room and get dinner, and we’d waste away into nothing from starvation, and would die before the TARDIS is grown.”

“Hmm, I guess that’s a no, then,” he said, unable to help the wide grin that crossed his face. He sobered, though, when he remembered the heartbreak on her face. “I really am sorry, Rose.”

“For what?” she asked.

“Being an arsehole,” he said. “For getting angry with you for not understanding the details of a metacrisis. For saying such awful things to you that implies you were being daft. You know I think you’re the cleverest person in the universe. In two universes, now.”

Rose nodded. “I know. I’m sorry, too.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he told her, reaching out to clasp her hand.

Rose shrugged. “I should’ve realized how hungry and tired I was, and I should’ve refused to have that conversation with you when I knew I’d never be able to focus and absorb the information until I’d been fed. But that still doesn’t excuse you for being an arse.”

“Of course,” he said, nodding. “I’ll make it up to you for the rest of my life, Rose. If… if you still want?”

She smiled gently at him. “Of course I do, Doctor. Just because we had a fight doesn’t mean I’m giving up on us. I crossed dimensions to be with you again, you know.”

“You-you did?” he squeaked.

Rose giggled. “Yeah.” She moved the box of pizza and scooted closer to him. He held his breath, then released it in a rush when she tucked herself into his side and rested her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and held her close, pressing kisses to the top of her head periodically.

“Can I try to explain the metacrisis again?” the Doctor asked.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Rose murmured, her voice thick with sleep. “I’m too tired to try to understand. The main thing is you’re still my Doctor, right?”

He nodded vehemently. “I will always be your Doctor, Rose.”

She hummed. “An’ I’ll always be your Rose.”

The Doctor sighed with relief and nuzzled his nose into her hair, just breathing her in.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.” She yawned. “Want to sleep with me?”

“Oh, always,” he purred, delighting in her giggle.

“To  _sleep_ ,” she stressed.

“I guess that’s acceptable, too,” he said with a sigh, and he pressed a parting kiss to her brow before he stood up.

He put the remaining two slices of pizza in the fridge along with the beer, then turned around to see Rose stripping down to her knickers. His breath caught in his throat as he watched her. She was beautiful. And oh, Gods, he’d missed her so bloody much. He wondered how long it would take for him to get used to the fact that this beautiful woman was his, forever. He hoped her never got used to it. He never wanted to become complacent with anything regarding Rose.

“Quit ogling,” Rose demanded. “Once I get a bit of sleep, you can ravish me again if you want.”

The Doctor laughed, and he walked up to the bed, shedding his suit as he went.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he answered, slipping into bed once he was in only his pants. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with her. He wanted to re-explore every inch of her body and recommit it all to memory. But for now, she was yawning into his ear as she pressed herself up against his side.

He opened his arm for her and she rolled closer. She nestled her cheek in the crook of his shoulder as her arm wrapped around his middle and her leg draped across one of his.

“I love you,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her hair.

She looked up at him with a groggy smile, and she leaned up to press her lips to his. He tasted pizza and beer and Rose in the kiss, and he hummed against her mouth as he hugged her close.

“Love you, too,” she said against his lips. “Nuh-night, Doctor.”

“Nighty night, Rose,” he replied, and with the weight of her body against his, the Doctor let out a happy sigh as he spent the first night of his new forever with Rose in his arms.


End file.
